Prior art quartz resonators have shown generally very good performance in terms of stability and phase noise. However, there is still a need for higher performance resonators.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,802,356 to Chang describes a method of fabricating an ultra-thin quartz resonator component, which has cantilever beam as a structure. A disadvantage of cantilever resonators is that they are known to suffer large out-of-plane deflection when an acceleration force is applied, which may especially occur on high vibration platforms.
Doubly or dual clamped beam resonators are described in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 7,409,851 to Ilic et al. describes a nanomechanical cantilever beam oscillator, and also a dual clamped end nanomechanical beam oscillator. U.S. Pat. No. 6,909,221 to Ayazi et al. describes a piezoelectric beam resonator. U.S. Pat. No. 7,555,938 to Bargatin et al. describes a nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) peizoresistive cantilever. These prior art references use inferior materials that are easier to manufacture, such as silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum nitride (AlN); however, these materials do not match the stability and performance of quartz.
What is needed is a resonator with high stability, including stability to out-of-plane acceleration forces. Also needed is a method for fabricating such resonators. The embodiments of the present disclosure answer these and other needs.